How to make your home-buying budget go further

Isn’t it strange how sometimes things don’t seem to add up – like exercising for half an hour to wear off the calories in a Jaffa cake? Or paying a premium to live in a shoebox?

At Robertson Homes, we choose our locations carefully to deliver great quality of life, and it mystifies us sometimes why people accept paying more for so much less.

The average price of a detached house in Edinburgh is £254,661. (Latest published figures*) And for that, you’re not going to get the best area, nor frankly, the best house.

You’d probably have a sticky urban commute, possibly overlook a retail park and in this setting, wildlife could only mean teenagers hanging about on the corner.

OR, you could have a brand new three bedroom home in glorious Haddington from £215,000, with great schools on your doorstep, fresh air in which to walk the dog along the riverbank and great, open views across the Letham Hills.

Or if you prefer even more bracing air, just down the road is Dunbar, with imposing cliff walks and great golf courses almost literally on your doorstep. Here you can buy a gorgeous, four bedroom, detached Robertson home from £292,500, with luxurious brands such as Villeroy & Boch, Porcelanosa and Siemens fitted as standard.

The lifestyle comes free

The thing is, it’s not just the house you get – it’s the community and the lifestyle, and the great outdoors all thrown in. You may still choose to work in a city but you don’t need to spend your evenings and weekends breathing in traffic fumes as well.

Instead, you can wander around independent coffee shops and book shops, or walk the John Muir Way. You can revel in historic buildings going back centuries, or just enjoy having a decent garden for the kids to play in when they are not at their friendly, local schools.

Owning a beautiful, new home of your own

Choosing your location carefully provides much more appealing opportunities to get on the property ladder.

Perthshire has to be one of the best places in Britain to call home. At our Auchterarder development of energy-efficient, contemporary homes, you can become a homeowner for as little as £110 a week if you qualify for the government’s Help to Buy Scheme.

With a purchase price of £185,000, a 3 bedroom, mid-terrace Alexander home could be ideal for a first-time-buyer family as it qualifies for Help to Buy.

Everything brand new, well designed and in a truly glorious location. (Another thing which mystifies us is why anyone would rent when all this could be available for less than £500 a month. And it’s yours, forever.)

What’s right for you?

There’s a stage in life when walking to work, or home from a selection of city centre wine bars is possibly the ideal situation, but it’s not for everyone or every stage.

If lifestyle, genuine community and open spaces are becoming more of your thing, come and talk to Robertson Homes about what we have available in some of the nicest places to live in Scotland and the North of England.

We’ll talk to you honestly about commuting and transport links; about who serves the best pizza in town and how good the local schools are.

If you want more home for your money, call any development to ask about feature plots and special incentives.